What Is Linux

In this first editorial I will attempt to give you an idea of what Linux is and what it will be. I also want to give you an idea of what (and who) Linux Journal is and what we see as our mission.

Linux is an independent implementation of
the POSIX operating system specification (basically a public
specification of much of the Unix operating system) that has been
written entirely from scratch. Linux currently works on IBM PC
compatibles with an ISA or EISA bus and a 386 or higher processor.
The Linux kernel was written by Linus Torvalds from Finland, and by
other volunteers. Many of the utilities are from the Free Software
Foundation's GNU project. Add to this basic definition the fact
that everything is essentially free (more on this later) and you
have yourself a complete Unix-like operating system that can run on
the average personal computer.

Although Linux can run on a 386SX based system with 2MB of
RAM and 40MB of disk storage this won't show you the power of the
system. The average system consists of 8MB of RAM and 300-1000MB of
disk storage along with the usual array of peripheral equipment
such as VGA monitors, keyboards, floppy disks and interface boards.
Where do you get it? If you are connected to the Internet you can
download it for free. With its current size, however, purchasing a
packaged version may be a better alternative. Packaged versions of
Linux are available on floppy disks, cartridge tape and CD-ROM and
range in price from $30 upward depending on what is
included.

Although the initial Linux effort was started as a more or
less hobby project, commercial distributions and commercial use of
Linux systems are becoming more common. It is expected that Linux
will play an important role in the current computer industry trend
of downsizing as a single Linux system running on standard PC
hardware can act as a server for multiple systems as well as
offering a low-cost alternative to proprietary workstations running
the Unix operating system.

Most of the development of the Linux system has taken place
in semi-public forums on the Internet where current readership of
the Linux newsgroups is around 100,000. This effort has grown to
this substantial size in only about 2 years. Over the next two
years, we expect to see an amazing growth in both the number of
Internet users and the number of Linux users. In fact, Linux will
be the tool that many people choose in order to get themselves
connected to the Internet.

Today Linux is primarily a Unix-like system. But an emulator
exists that allows it to run MS-DOS based applications and an
interface is currently being developed that will allow Linux to run
Microsoft Windows applications directly using the capabilities of
the X-windows system which comes with many Linux distributions.
Thus, in the near future, Linux will offer both native applications
and the capability to run many of the existing PC-based
applications all on one platform.

Where does Linux Journal
fit in?

Up to this point, most of the work on Linux has been done in
a reasonably public fashion. Usenet newsgroups and various
electronic mailing lists have been the place where design decisions
are made, bugs are reported and new releases are documented. In
fact, it is this open forum that has made if possible to develop
such an amazing product by a team of volunteers spread around the
globe in such a short time frame.

As the Linux user community continues to grow we see an
amazing number of newcomers entering the Usenet discussions each
month. Many of these newcomers are seeking answers the the eternal
questions: what hardware do I need, where can I get a copy of Linux
and why doesn't something work. I expect for every question asked
on one of these newsgroups there are at least ten others that go
unasked and probably unanswered.

This is one of the places where LJ fits
in. We plan to become a resource where people can find the answers
to questions. And being a magazine instead of a discussion group we
can assemble the needed answers andmake them available in a form
that can be accessed by more people in more locations. Yes, some
people have laptops and cellular phones that they can take on the
bus but it still remains easier to hand a friend a magazine than
help him or her get up to speed on using Usenet news
readers.

We see this part of our audience as being two groups. Lots of
the current Linux users have worked professionally with Unix. The
other segmentis the DOS user who wants to upgrade to a multi-user
system. With a combination of tutorials and technical articles we
hope to satisfy the needs of both these groups. The second audience
we want to address is the commercial user. As I have been talking
to people about LJ I find that I need to be an
evangalist. For example, I have talked to hardware vendors and
manufacturers of diagnostic tools. Only one had heard of Linux but
all of them are somewhere between interested and excited when I
told them the Linux story.

Many people question how something can be “free” and still be
able to make money change hands. The vendors understand. Getting
more Linux systems out there means selling more computers, more
hard disks, more ethernet cards, more communications boards and
more consulting. For comparison, look at your CD collection. For
most of us, the cost of the CD player is insignificant in
comparison to the cost of the CDs we have purchased. Linux is like
the CD player and will encourage people to buy what they need to
support it.

Besides making money, Linux can offer better alternatives for
the end user. For example, I did some consulting a few years ago
for a small business. They needed a multi-user system with a
database, word processing and some document layout software. And
they had a small budget. The solution they got was a single
386-based system with a fewterminals running SCO Xenix, troff and a
database. Today they need to add more horsepower and would like to
network an MS-DOS based system to what they have.

The upgrade path for them is to purchase more computers, more
copies of Xenix (or Unix), TCP/IP communications software, Network
File System software and some Ethernet boards to connect everything
together. In other words, spend more money than they did initially
to add the functions they need.

If their system was based on Linux they would already have
TCP/IP and NFS as it comes with Linux. And Linux is not licensed on
a per system basisso they wouldn't need to purchase more licenses.
Thus, for the cost of the computers and Ethernet boards they could
expand their network. They could probably get the system they need
for not much more than the cost of the system they had to settle
for.